After the Russian-language website Loooch published the e-books Homosexuality for Kids and Lesbianism for Kids, the Russian government decided to ban not just it, but block the entire blogging platform the site is hosted on.

Animal New York reports that Looo, a creative outlet for New York-based Ukranian artists Anatoli Ulyanov and Natasha Masharova, was added to Russia’s Registry of Forbidden sites on September 19. Squarespace confirmed “that one of our IPs is banned in Russia because of content hosted on a user’s site.”

Writes Gawker:

The two gay “guidebooks” are full of explicit images and tongue-in-cheek pronouncements like “Sometimes, when you look at another boy, you suddenly feel happy and strange.” But as Animal New York points out, “one look through them and you know they’re not gay textbooks for children. If you don’t, you are silly or tyrannical Kremlin minion.”

Government officials with no sense of irony or satire? We can’t imagine what that’s like.

Jinkx Monsoon’s hit off-Broadway show, The Vaudevillians, has been extended for a fifth time. If you haven’t seen her hilarious and melodic performance with Major Scales, you now have until November 11.

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously today to confirm Todd Hughes as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, making him the first openly gay appointee to the federal appeals court.

Hughes, a Harvard graduate from Ohio, has served as a deputy director in the Justice Department’s civil division since 2007. The Federal Circuit focuses on cases Hughes has a solid track record in— veterans’ benefits, public safety, government contract and patent and trademarks.

“I have always been amazed by how intelligent he is, but also how practical he is,”said Hughes’ friend Geovette Washington, general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget. She says his sexual orientation is important to him, but “I wouldn’t call him an activist,… it’s part of who he is.”

While the Senate clearly embraced Hughes, another out jurist hasn’t had such an easy go of it: Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida withdrew his support the appointment of Miami judge William Thomas to the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Rubio claimed he took exception to Thomas’ rulings on two criminal cases, and his pulling back means Thomas—who would have been the first gay black judge on the federal bench—won’t move forward in his confirmation process.

An 18-year-old from Springtown, Texas, has been arrested for the brutal attack on a gay man over Labor Day weekend. Accused assailant Brice Johnson met Arron Keahey, 24, on the dating app MeetMe, and Keahey went over to Johnson’s house an hour later. Once he arrived, Keahey said, Johnson “started getting all frustrated and talking all angrily… I don’t remember anything after that.”

Johnson called 911, telling police he found Keahey outside his house in the trunk of a car. Suspicious authorities are investigating the assault as a possible hate crime.

The Queer Lisboa International Film Festival has a pretty hilarious trailer: An actor re-creates William Wallace’s infamous speech in Braveheart, as he and his men subtly transition into drag queens. (Somebody please make sure Mel Gibson sees this). Running through september 28, r the fest—Portugal’s only LGBT film series— includes critically lauded films like Free Fall, Young and Wils, Five Dances and Malcolm Ingram’s bathhouse documentary, Continental.

Yesterday was Celebrate Bisexuality Day, and President Obamagot into the spirit of things with a White House roundtable on bisexuality that drew activists from across the country.

“It’s a testament to this administration that they are focusing on all elements of the LGBT community and they should be applauded for hosting an event focused on some of the specific issues impacting bisexual people,” said HRC spokesperson Michael Cole-Schwartz.

The mayor and vice mayor of Porterville, California, have been removed from office after endorsing an LGBT Pride proclamation.

Some residents saw the Porterville City Council’s 3-2 decision to reorganize itself on earlier this month as retribution against Mayor Virginia Gurrola’s issuing of the proclamation and vice mayor Pete McCracken’s support of it.

Other residents expressed their “disgust” and “upset” with time being wasted on such issues as the proclamation and reorganizing the council.

A Porterville resident had requested the proclamation after President Barack Obama this year declared June LGBT Pride Month.

But council members who voted for the change of positions contend it had nothing to do with their dislike for the proclamation. They said they support rotating council officers.

It’s worth noting the same council rescinded Gurrola’s gay-pride proclamation in July and tried to pass a resolution making June a month for community charity. Three pro-LGBT demonstrators were arrested for disorderly conduct at the meeting.

What can the funeral-service industry from drag queens? Check out this episode of Ask a Mortician: